Look. Here it is. http://www.cafeshops.com/oww_scholarship.9564292.
My first story is in that. Er, published story.
My first story is locked away where none of you can find it. It's about a princess and a dragon named Draggie.
This one is not.
Westmark by Lloyd Alexander (7) (re-read)
I read this oh-so-many years ago, and only finally completed the trilogy (Kestrel was out of print forever) recently. So, since I'm trying to pump up the reading stats, I thought I'd delve into something slim and previously read.
It is both a more complicated and a less complicated book than I remember. I think I was 12 when I read it, so that kind of makes sense. There are no few leaps of faith the author asks us to take, Mickle becoming Very Important to Theo Very Quickly, for example. (And I won't even mention how their friendship-with-implied-something-else at the end of Book One becomes an out-and-out betrothal at the beginning of Book Two.)
All the same, it's not shabby, and certain moments and images have stayed with me, so long now that I wasn't honestly sure where they had come from until I read this again. In fact, I would have said those moments and images were straight out of Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire." Strange.
Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold (6)
A book I didn't mash into the first big read-through of the Vorkosigan shenanigans, because at the time, it didn't have Miles in it, and what the hell would be the point?
But Miles would have been too much. Ethan was v. cute on his own.
We've already lost one computer monitor here at work to a spectacular failure (there was burning and smoking and sparking).
We can tell that the monitor that replaced it is going soon, too, because of the weird things it does when you turn it off.
"That monitor is on its last legs."
"The monitor before it was even more on its last legs."
"..."
"...I mean, as in the Grand Centipede of Life."
(The Grand Centipede of Life is a great concept, even if the joke isn't that funny.)
But then I wrote this all up on the white board at work, only in the first line I wrote "it's" instead of "its" (even though I got the second one right).
And my dear co-worker kindly circled the mistake and wrote "FFS, you work in a library."
Eric, the Grand Centipede is going to walk over your face tonight while you sleep. And lay eggs in your ear.
Hey. Welcome, and stuff.
Here it is. My official weblog. Consider all other weblogs entirely unofficial, if you please. Or even if you don't please.
Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (5)
Not sure when I've read a book that made me cry long before the ending. Other than this.
Nothing like the movie. Forget the movie was made. The ending of the movie was a freaking mess. The ending of the book had some real depth that would not have translated to a movie screen, I suppose, but still.
Wolf Queen by Tanith Lee (4)
Good, but strange. I'll give the author props for springing a credible surprise. Interestingly, this book felt more like a "middle" book than the previous one did. Do I think that because I know that Wolf Wing is on the horizon? I also felt that some of it was almost too much. Suddenly, the main character has All the Power in the Universe. But the story isn't done. Odd.
Not sure what I think, ultimately. Still, liked it, will read sequel.
Beacon at Alexandria by Gillian Bradshaw (3) (re-read)
Sooooo good. For different reasons every time. When I was younger, I thought the disguise story was the best. Somewhere in the middle, I fell in love with Athanaric. Lately, I've been concentrating on the details of Roman life. This time, for example, I was struck by how, all along, I was never upset by the mentions of slavery in the book. It was casual, part of daily life, etc. It's deftly handled. While Charis is a "good" person, she is still a person of her time, and convincingly so.
Water by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson (1)
While I'm always delighted to get the chance to read new Robin McKinley (and old Robin McKinley, for that matter), I find that her short stories are frequently hit or miss for me. It's why I've never gone looking for a replacement copy for A Door in the Hedge, whereas I have re-read her novels so many times that I've actually worn out copies and had to go buy replacements.
Fortunately, I sincerely liked most of these stories, both the McKinley and the Dickinson. I didn't find enough layers in most of the stories to love any of them, though "The Kraken" came close... but "A Pool in the Desert" actually made me cry, so I consider that one pretty damn successful.
I think the problem with a) short stories in general and b) short stories from one of my favorite novelists is that most people can't make a person fall in love in under 8k words. You can't excise a single word from any of McKinley's novels and not feel like you've lost something, that's how important each piece is to building up the love.
Just a thought. I could be wrong. I'm not wrong for me, though.
End o' Year Tally, and New Goals
19 Romance
11 Science Fiction/Fantasy
4 Young Adult
5 Graphic novels
9 Mainstream
7 Nonfic-Writing
3 Nonfic-Science
6 Nonfic-Other
3 Classics
I beat my goal by 7 and last year's total by 4. Still dont' feel like I read much.
Standout new-to-me books were Sunshine and Cleopatra's Heir. Did I uncover any new writers--ie, people I will read again just on the power of their name? Yes... Suzanne Enoch and Susan Vreeland. Too much romance? Yes. Proportionally, way yes.
No more reading of borrowed books, unless I ask to borrow it. No more romances from the discard pile at work. They all combine to make reading a chore, and that's part of the reduced numbers. I don't think I'll ever break 200 books a year again, and 300 is an impossible thought; but I'd like to break a hundred again. In fact, that's my goal. One hundred books in 2004.